


Ne faites pas tomber le rameau d'olivier

by lesbianxshuri



Series: Maryse Lightwood isn't that bad (nor is Robert) [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: (duh!), Fluff, Lightwood Family Feels, Mother-Son Relationship, Other, Post Season 1, alec is totally a momma's boy, and y'all know it, lightwood family dynamics, maryse lightwood isn't that bad, she's trying to redeem herself, smiling alec lightwood, so spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-28
Updated: 2016-06-28
Packaged: 2018-07-18 21:32:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7331335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbianxshuri/pseuds/lesbianxshuri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While she was used to Isabelle dismissing her authority and ignoring her, Alec pretending she didn’t exist was something new. Maryse knew she was to blame for her eldest son’s behavior. She had ignored each of his attempts to talk to her and hadn’t taken his plans of defense against Valentine under consideration. She should’ve known it would only be a matter of time until he stated ignoring her too.</p><p> </p><p>- </p><p>Where Maryse tries to mend things between Alec and herself after the wedding's fiasco.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ne faites pas tomber le rameau d'olivier

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Shadowhunters, or anything else you might recognize. 
> 
> Enjoy :)

 

_\- "Je viens à vous avec un rameau d'olivier dans la main gauche, et une mitraillette dans la main droite. Ne faites pas tomber le rameau d'olivier." -_

**Yasser Arafat, former Palestinian leader.**

* * *

 

People parted like the Red Sea did before Moses when Maryse walked into the OPS Center. She ignored them, her eyes stuck onto the pad in her hands. The number of people staying at the Institute had doubled since Jace’s departure and Alec’s disaster of a wedding. She tended to avoid most of them or ignore them all. The people she actually wanted to talk to - namely her children - seemed to be working hard not to cross her way. While she was used to Isabelle dismissing her authority and ignoring her, Alec pretending she didn’t exist was something new. Maryse knew she was to blame for her eldest son’s behavior. She had ignored each of his attempts to talk to her and hadn’t taken his plans of defense against Valentine under consideration. She should’ve known it would only be a matter of time until he stated ignoring her too.

Despite the late hour, the OPS Center was still swarming with people, either coming back from patrols or going out. Maryse didn’t pay them much attention, stopping only when someone asked for her seal of approval or needed to discuss aspects of a mission. She nodded, signed reports when needed before continuing her way toward her office.

Only to be stopped by the sight of her eldest son asleep on a holo table.

The urge to ignore him and keep walking was strong, but something stronger made her change her path and walk toward Alec. The archer seemed to be sleeping deeply. People gave his prone form a wide berth and were careful not to disturb his sleep when they passed by him, talking in whispers and walking on their tiptoes. Climbing the stairs up the plateforme, Maryse hesitantly made her way toward Alec, her heart aching at his soft snores and dark circles under his eyes. She smiled as she watched him scrunch his nose and chase away invisible flies with a hand.

Maryse was tempted to let him sleep - he obviously needed it - but his posture made her wince in discomfort. Always slouching already gave Alec back troubles, he didn’t need a wry neck on top of everything. Crouching in front of him, she combed his hair back before gently caressing his cheek with the back of her hand.

“Alec,” Maryse whispered in a sing-song voice, “Time to wake up.”

She almost cooed when Alec frowned, trying to push away her hand with a groan. With an amused chuckle, Maryse let her hand slide onto the back of his neck, rubbing it with her thumb.

“Come on, _carino._ You’re too big for me to carry upstairs.”

Slowly, Alec cracked an eye opened. The other quickly followed. His brow still furrowed, he blinked a couple of times at his mother before croaking out :

“Mom?”

“Hey,” Maryse greeted him with half a smile , “you fell asleep.”

After giving his his neck a quick squeeze, Maryse took off her hand and stood back up. Alec straightened in his chair, leaning back as he stretched his arms over his head. Sighing in relief as his shoulders gave a satisfying ‘pop’, he rubbed his eyes with his hands.

“What time is it?”

“It’s… a little bit before midnight.” Maryse replied after making sure she was the one Alec was talking to.

Alec groaned and frantically rubbed his face with his hands, trying to wake himself up. Letting his hands fall back onto his lap, he cleared his throat and turned on the holo table he had been using as a bed a few minutes earlier. Maryse pulled up a chair next to him and sat down, resting an elbow on the edge of the table and leaning her hand onto her palm.

“What are you working on?”

At the question, Alec turned to her, his eyes narrowed in confusion and a bit of suspicion. Maryse didn’t let herself wince under his searching gaze. After apparently finding what he was looking for, Alec sighed and focused back on the holo table, where had appeared a cart of the state of New York.

“I’m trying to triangulate Valentine’s position based on the informations we’ve got so far.” he explained, his eyes darting from the cart to his notes.

Maryse hummed and leaned over the table.

“What are those informations exactly ?”

“The Seelies think they’re still in the city,” Alec tapped the cart, making a red dot appear over it, “they claim they’ve seen a couple of Circle members parolling near Central Park.”

Clenching his jaw, Alec swallowed a yawn, shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair before continuing :

“Luke’s Pack, however, lost Jace’s scent near New Jersey.” A new dot appeared, connecting the two cities. “And according to Hodge,” Alec added with a grimace, “and other captured Circle members, they’re already out of the state. They reported that Valentine has a ship, the Morning Star. We went to the docks, the boat was gone.” he drew several arrows, pointing West. “They believe they’re going there to recruit.”

With a thoughtful pout, Maryse rested her arms onto the table and leaned her head over them as she observed the quickly made schema. Standing back up, she crossed her arms and asked, frowning:

“How sure are these?”

Alec shrugged his shoulders and tilted his head to the side.

“Well, Seelies can’t lie, I trust Luke’s word and Hodge swore under an oath. Pretty sure he can’t lie either. ”

Maryse hummed again. She was almost tempted to ask informations from warlocks - one Warlock in particular - just to see his reaction. However, both of them - Alec, specifically - were tired and it was too late to fight. Therefore, she kept quiet. With a sigh, she turned to Alec and asked:

“Did you try contacting nearby Institutes?”

“Yeah, 'try’ being the keyword.” Alec snorted, rubbing the back of his neck. “None of them are picking up. Not that I’m blaming them.”

Alec didn’t try to fight the yawn this time. He yawned loudly and with his mouth wide opened. Trying to shake himself awake, he began jumping up and down before stretching his arms and legs, oblivious to Maryse’s amused gaze.

“You know what? You should go back to bed. This can wait until morning.”

Alec frowned and shook his head.

“No, this needs to be done tonight. Plus, I’ve got a meeting with Santiago, tomorrow.”

“And this is why you should go to bed.” Maryse argued, an eyebrow cocked. “I can finish up. I’ll make a few phone calls and see what I can come up with.”

Once again, Alec stared at her through narrowed eyes. Again, Maryse didn’t let it unsettle her and stood her ground. Ultimately, Alec was the one who broke the stare-off. With a sigh, he brushed back dark locks of hair, his bottom lip stuck between two teeth as he considered his mother’s suggestion. Then , with half a smile, Alec turned back to her.

“Hold that thought.”

Maryse didn’t even had the time to protest, Alec was already gone. He came back a few minutes later, much to his mother’s exasperation, with a steaming coffee pot and two mugs. Undeterred by his mother’s glare, Alec smiled and handed her a cup. With a defeated sigh, Maryse took it and let him pour coffee into it, watching as he did the same for himself. After putting the pot on a table behind them, he turned to his mother and held out his mug.

“It’ll go faster if we work together.” Alec explained, shrugging.

Maryse couldn’t help but smile at Alec’s defiant look and waggling eyebrows, daring her to refuse his help. With an eyeroll, she clinked his cup with hers.

“Fine.” She took a sip of the hot drink before sliding back int her chair, “I make the calls, you take notes.

"Deal,” Alec retorted, sitting back next to her.

They didn’t find anything about Jace, nor did they find anything about Valentine. They made progress, though. Not enough, according to Alec. After his fifth yawn, Maryse had forced him to go to be. Alec wasn’t awake enough to fight back. Maryse realized later that Alec could’ve refuse her help. He could’ve ignore her like he had been during the last few weeks. He could’ve activate his stamina rune, like he had on previous occasions, and pull an all-nighter.

But he hadn’t.

Instead of that, Alec had handed her a cup of coffee like Athena had made an olive tree grow in Athens. He had given her a second chance and Maryse had taken it with both hands, holding it close to her heart and letting the hope emanating from it warm her cold hands.

 

**Author's Note:**

> translation of the opening quote : I come to you with an olive branch in my left hand and a machine gun in my right hand. Don't let the olive branch fall. 
> 
> Thanks for reading and, please, leave a comment and kudos !  
> Love y'all !
> 
> Go bother/stalk/talk to me on Tumblr


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